Well, that didn't take long.

Jesse Watters is the obvious choice for Fox News to take over at Tucker Carlson's former 8 p.m. time slot. The co-host of "The Five" is funny, suitably conservative and enough to make a segment of viewers to almost pretend they forget that the network's most popular host was summarily fired.

So, guess what? The left is busying themselves calling him a racist.

According to the U.K. Daily Mail, the host was "slammed for saying he 'can tell' who is an 'illegal immigrant' just by looking at them" on the show Tuesday.

This isn't necessarily a full description of the circumstances, of course; Watters and the panel were discussing the influx of migrants into New York City after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, began busing them there amid a border crisis affecting his state.

That border crisis is about to get a lot worse, as Title 42 pandemic protections go out with the pandemic emergency itself on May 11. The issue of busing illegal immigrants to big cities from the border -- even though those cities may be their destinations -- has already become a racial one, with New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, insisting that Abbott is targeting "black-run" cities with the transportation plan.

So, on Tuesday's show, Watters said, "I saw on the way into work an illegal immigration family digging through the trash looking for recyclables."

Co-host Jessica Tarlov then asked him how he knew they were in the country illegally.

"You can tell," Watters quipped, before saying, "I can tell! I’m a city guy. You don’t want me to get into it, but I can tell."

Jesse Watters: "Now, I saw on the way in to work an illegal immigration family digging through the trash looking for recyclables."

Jessica Tarlov: "How did you know they were illegal?"

Watters: "You can tell." pic.twitter.com/PyQxdrScgc

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) May 2, 2023

Cue the mock outrage.

Jesse Watters is auditioning for the Tucker Carlson 8:00 pm “white nationalist” slot at Fox News.

How do I know? I can tell.pic.twitter.com/1QsFJY9YSs

— Billy Baldwin (@BillyBaldwin) May 3, 2023

And the award for "Racist of the Day" goes to...*opens envelope*...Jesse Watters!pic.twitter.com/CpkNBzi7JQ

— Gabe Sanchez  (@iamgabesanchez) May 3, 2023

Jesse Watters claims he has a secret power to spot migrants. He says he's a "city guy" even though he lives in New Jersey. I've got a secret power to spot a racist - he's got huge eyebrows and hair and he sits at in the middle of the table on The Five. pic.twitter.com/23a0zWWFQK

— Decoding Fox News (@DecodingFoxNews) May 2, 2023

Conservatives, like country star John Rich, weren't necessarily impressed by outrage-fest:

Triggered 🤣

— John Rich🇺🇸 (@johnrich) May 3, 2023

Now, is it horribly racist to assume that Watters might have some special knowledge of the issue, having lived in the city and knowing where many of the bused migrants are living? Is it illogical to add that to the fact they were digging through the trash and assume they weren't here legally? Of course not -- and, it's worth noting that Watters went on to say "it's the saddest thing to see because they're not able to work here. They came to work, but they're not able to work here."

"“The point is this: you have to be able to choose the people that come into the country based on needs. If you need this type of person, bring them in. But to just say everybody come in and then, oops, you know, now people are looking for a five cent bottle, that’s not right. And you can’t blame the guy down in Texas for that. Joe Biden is the common denominator for all of this," he went on to say.

Which is, again, accurate. But the left isn't going to focus on all of that, the same way they never focused on what Tucker Carlson said in toto. Instead, they took out fragments of his show and used them to scaremonger. He was Putinist puppet! A spreader of the "Great Replacement Theory!" A white supremacist! And now, out-of-context fragments of his text messages are now being used to confirm that, even if no one on the left (or the right, or anywhere for that matter) believes that's why he was fired.

Watters is merely considered the top contender for the spot, according to sources like The Hill, and you already see the gears turning. Let that be a lesson for conservatives: The left will never stop painting its enemies, particularly in the media, as bigots of the highest order. "Oh, Tucker's been fired? Whoohoo, let's celebrate. Who's up next?"

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.